This likely won’t be my last blog post but I just wanted to write a quick update about how my clubs went tonight…

Lebret had one new little boy, so the total registered was 15. The kids had a lot of fun and especially enjoyed the Little Rascal story. The host family kept the hackey sack and they were all super excited about it.

Balcarres had 21 kids today, but the total registered was 23. Much bigger than last year so that was awesome. I’m already hoping I get to go back and teach there again next year. We did a draw for the frisbee/baseball and the little girl picked the baseball, much to the delight of her 11 year old cousin who desperately wanted that baseball for himself, haha. I handed out every single last one of my Meet the King books and had exactly enough, and lots of kids said verses to me tonight too. Also, our prayers for a less-restless-night were answered. They sat and listened well and focused really well almost the entire time, so thank you for that.

Tomorrow when I have more time I have a long list of thank-you’s to go through, so stay tuned 🙂 thanks everyone!

This week has been loooooooong, as evidenced by my title. Well actually, for me the week has been going by rather quickly. However, for the kids in my clubs, I can see the week is starting to wear on them. They’re getting tired and restless and it’s showing in their attention spans. Especially in Balcarres, the younger kids are starting to talk a lot throughout the club and roll around on the floor and basically just zone out while I’m trying to teach the stories. I know that a week of activity like this can get really tiring, so please pray for the kids, that God would help them to focus for one more day so they can really get the most out of the club.

The clubs did go pretty well again today. Three boys from my VBS in Balcarres ended up at both my Lebret club and my VBS today, so that was kind of funny. There was also two new kids in Balcarres. Like I said though, a lot of the kids are getting really distracted throughout the entire time. Some kids are coming late and that really throws everything off so please pray specifically for my Balcarres club that the kids would be able to pay attention tomorrow.

Thanks so much everybody!

I don’t know why, but I’ve always just really liked reaching the halfway point of things. I guess it just helps me to see measurable progress through a task. Like the end of week 2, I was happy because with the two weeks of training before teaching, that got us halfway through the entire summer. And then with the end of week 3, that got us halfway through the 6 weeks of actual teaching. And Wednesdays were always good days because that’s the halfway point at each week. This halfway point is sort of sad though. It really is the most bittersweet feeling as we wrap up this summer. I’m going to miss teaching so much.

My clubs today were basically the exact same as yesterday. The same kids came and they listened almost as well as yesterday. The Little Rascal story got a bit long for their attention spans in both clubs today so please pray that tomorrow they’d be able to focus the entire time. Actually, I’ve noticed by the end of the club, a lot of the kids are getting really restless, even if they’re still sitting quietly. So yeah I guess prayer for tomorrow would just be that they would be able to listen to the whole thing and I could make it exciting so they won’t be bored.

Thanks again for all the prayer as the summer gets closer to ending!

Hey everyone, I hope the rest of you teachers had a great day teaching. My clubs were good, with 11 in Lebret (1 new friend) and 20 in Balcarres (4 new friends). Again the clubs went well with kids who listened and participated. There’s not much different from yesterday.

It’s kind of sad to think I won’t be teaching the bible story again this summer. I love today’s bible story, of how King David showed kindness to Mephibosheth by basically adopting him into his family, although the majority of kings would never have done that. Our memory verse shows that God has done the same for us, by showing us kindness and love and actually giving us the opportunity to become his children. I often marvel at the fact that God would love me. I look at myself and sometimes I think “what person could possibly stand me, never mind the king of the universe?” I know my thoughts and what a terrible attitude I have, and how I am often distracted and, honestly in many ways, how I’m spiritually unprepared for the job I have teaching these precious children.

Yet God knows my heart even more than I do. He created it and he knows it better than anyone else. But when he looks at me, somehow he does so with love. Love, and kindness, and forgiveness. The thought brings tears to my eyes…he loves me and wants me to love him back. That he loves me so incredibly much that he would send his own son to die, for me, a sinner. Someone who was living in blatant rebellion to him. God loves me enough, that not only did he send his son to die for me, but he also invites me into his family. Adopts me as his own daughter, beloved and cherished. He looks at me and says, “Olivia Theresa Mile, my precious daughter, I love you and I want you to be with me.”

It’s shocking how he chooses to love me. I am far from deserving of such love. But I am grateful. So, so grateful. I have failed him over and over, but every time, he invites me back with open arms. In fact, there is not one single thing that can separate me from God’s love or take it away from me. The least I can do is try, with my skewed view of love, to love him back and to do my best to spread his love to others.

That’s why I love teaching this story so much. This is honestly probably my favourite story to teach out of the five we have, because even coming from a solid, Christian home where I have two loving earthly parents already, the idea that God would literally adopt me as his own daughter has always amazed me, and I see my amazement mirrored on the faces of the kids I teach, every week. God’s love is so amazing, and getting to tell kids about it is probably my favourite thing to do.

Every year I hit this point in the summer. I usually end week 5 tired, kinda grouchy, and ready for a week off (it sounds terrible, but it’s true). But then once I actually start teaching week 6, I realize, “this is the last time I get to do this for an entire year…” and it’s heartbreaking. I’m so glad that I still have 3 more days with these kids.

A lot of the kids in my clubs this week are churched, but that doesn’t necessarily mean they’ve made a decision yet. Just today I saw on one lesson that a little girl who’s mom is helping at the VBS decided to follow Christ last night while she was doing her lesson. Please pray for these kids. They are all so sweet and they all desperately need Jesus. So pray that he would soften their hearts to him, and if they already have, then I would be able to encourage them farther in their walks with him. Thank you so much.

“Who shall separate us from the love of Christ? Shall tribulation, or distress, or persecution, or famine, or nakedness, or danger, or sword?…No, in all these things we are more than conquerors through him who loved us. For I am sure that neither death nor life, nor angels nor rulers, nor things present nor things to come, nor powers, nor height nor depth, nor anything else in all creation, will be able to separate us from the love of God in Christ Jesus our Lord.” (Romans 8:35, 37-39)